The outdoor patio connected to the Mahoney and Pearson residential colleges collapsed during a thunderstorm on Sunday, leaving residents scared and confused.
While this patio is not technically part of the residential colleges, it is directly in front of the entrance. Its collapse was serious and could have hurt any of the hundreds of students living just feet away.
The university sent two emails, one the night of the incident, and one the afternoon after, attempting to reassure residents that they were safe. However, it’s hard for students to trust UM with serious situations like these when there have been prior complaints about safety with no action taken.
Given the university’s history of sweeping issues under the rug, many students feel its response was not enough to solve the issue and reassure students, including freshman Ariana Glaser, a Pearson resident.
“I think the emails vastly undercut the severity of the damage, and I also think they weren’t quick enough to alleviate concerns that no one was injured,” Glaser said. “I think better communication was necessary but not enacted.”
The Mahoney-Pearson residential colleges are notorious for their terrible living environments. These residential colleges are each more than 60 years old and are well known among students to be in desperate need of maintenance and renovations.
“This instance is beyond disappointing, so many people could have gotten hurt due to the neglect of the building’s upkeep,” said Mahoney resident Ava Katla, who posted a TikTok video of the building that has since garnered over 400,000 views.
TMH contacted the university for comment on the collapse.
“As an added precaution following the March 30 incident, the University engaged a structural engineer to inspect Mahoney-Pearson Residential College and Eaton Residential College, and they have not found any area of concern in terms of structural integrity,” the University of Miami said in a statement to TMH. “The University has a robust preventative maintenance inspection program, and students should feel safe and have peace of mind.”
The statement also said the structure that collapsed “had no bearing on the integrity of the student housing structure.”
If it weren’t for the rain, dozens of students would have been outside, studying or socializing on the gliders now crushed by the fallen roof. Katla also compares the issues with Mahoney-Pearson to the luxuries of the newer dorms.
“Students in Centennial have much more, like people who clean their bathrooms and brand new dorms, while Mahoney-Pearson has to deal with fire alarm issues early in the mornings, fires, burnt clothes and even the building collapsing. It’s just unfair.”
In October 2024, a dryer caught fire in the third floor of Mahoney residential college. Just five months later, the fourth floor of Pearson experienced its own dryer fire. In March, The Miami Hurricane published an article highlighting students who have been affected by mold and mildew in these residence halls.
“Since spring 2024 we have had three incidents of dryer fires. In two of those incidents, students left items, including plastic cell phone covers, in the pockets of clothing placed in the dryer. We have updated signage in all laundry rooms that cautions students to check their clothing pockets before placing them in the machines,” The university’s statement said.
“In addition, there have been no confirmed cases of mold. In all complaints, mildew and/or dirt buildup due to high moisture levels were found and were addressed via established cleaning protocols.”
Stanford residential college faced many of these same issues and was torn down in 2024. According to phase three of Housing Facilities Strategic Plan, “a complete replacement and/or renovation of Mahoney, Pearson and Eaton Residential Colleges” is in the works.
In the meantime, UM needs to focus on a deep cleaning and improving of safety standards, an issue that students and parents have been trying to address for decades.
While some residents feel unsafe in their dorms due to the collapse, others hope it was just a one-time occurrence.
“I do feel safe in the building just because the patio roof isn’t technically a part of the building, so I’m hoping it’s unrelated,” said a Mahoney resident who wished to remain anonymous.
She expressed that she felt the situation was handled adequately, noting that the fire department arrived within minutes of her learning about the collapse, though she was surprised by the initial news of the incident.
“I was pretty shocked by the collapse, my friends told me about it way before the school released a statement and we all had pictures and everything. I didn’t think some bad weather would be enough to bring the patio roof down,” said the resident.
It is important to point out that bad weather should not have this effect on structures housing hundreds of students. After all, we are the Miami Hurricanes, so if a thunderstorm can spark a building collapse, what’s going to happen when the next hurricane hits?
This terrible event should serve as a wake-up call for the UM administration. UM needs to better communicate with students and parents regarding safety moving forward. A full inspection of the Mahoney-Pearson residence halls should be conducted to help gain students’ trust back. Students’ safety should never be compromised, and it should not take such a severe event like a partial building collapse for safety concerns to be taken seriously.